Innehållsförteckning för Fall 2024 från Handwoven

Since 1876 Arizona FIBER CREEK Prescott AZ 86305 (928) 717-1774 fibercreek@hotmail.com California  CUSTOM HANDWEAVERS Mountain View Tel: (650) 967-0831 Fax: (650) 967-1005 www.customhandweavers.com webemit@sbcglobal.net CUSTOM HANDWEAVING Redondo Beach Tel: (310) 316-0910 or: (866) 656-1060 www.nancyscustomhandweaving.com customhandweavin@aol.com JULIAN WEAVING WORKS Julian (760) 765-2432 info@weaverslink.com SAN FRANCISCO FIBERS CO. Oakland (510) 893-2015 www.sanfranciscofiber.com lou@sffiber.com Colorado  BOUNTIFUL Livermore (877) 586-9332 info@bountifulspinweave.com www.bountifulspinweave.com FIRESIDE COUNTRY STORE Grand Junction 970-858-9288 lynnjenks9@gmail.com Florida SERENDIPITY FARM & STUDIO Leesburg (757) 651-2632 serendipityfarmstudio@gmail.com Illinois  FINE LINE CREATIVE ARTS CENTER St. Charles (630) 584-9443 www.fineline.org info@fineline.org Indiana THE WEAVERS LOFT Guilford (812) 576-3904 weaving@nalu.net www.weaversloft.com Kansas THE YARN BARN Lawrence (800) 468-0035 yarnbarn@sunflower.com Kentucky THE WOOLERY Frankfort tel: (502) 352-9800 fax (502) 352-9802 http://www.woolery.com info@woolery.com Louisiana  WEAVIN' PLACE Folsom (985) 796-8048 www.weavinplace.com cheryl@weavinplace.com Maine  HALCYON YARN Bath (207) 442-7909…

The Art of Weaving: Master the Techniques, Understand the Weave Structures, Create Your Own Designs Betty Briand In the opening moments of my very first weaving class, my teacher asked me why I wanted to learn to weave. Surprised, I thought a few seconds, then said, “I want to know how to make cloth.” She nodded. “What interests you more, the process or the product?” No need to think about that one. “Definitely process.” “Okay,” she said, “now I know how to teach you.” And so she did. Fast-forward 11 years to the day The Art of Weaving arrived in the mail. Turns out Betty Briand is a process-of-weaving teacher on steroids. With palpable exuberance and many exclamation points—she is French, after all—her book opens with exhaustive overviews of looms,…

COMPLEXITY When: Ongoing online Where: complex-weavers.org/gallery-category/exhibit-gallery What: In association with Complex Weavers 2024, a juried international members’ exhibition of works that employ complex or innovative design, techniques, and/or weave structures. SMALL EXPRESSIONS When: September 3–October 19, 2024 Where: The Little Loomhouse, 328 Kenwood Hill Rd., Louisville, KY Info: littleloomhouse.org for hours; admission is free What: In association with Convergence 2024, a juried exhibition of contemporary small-scale works that speaks to the intricacy of expression, the intimacy of design, thoughtful communication, and visual excitement. Visit weavespindye.org/book-an-exhibit for other exhibit dates and locations. DINÉ TEXTILES | NIZHÓNÍGO HADADÍT’EH, THEY ARE BEAUTIFULLY DRESSED When: Through September 29, 2024 Where: RISD Museum, 20 N. Main St., Providence, RI Info: risdmuseum.org for hours and tickets What: Diné-woven textiles from the 1800s as well as work…

I am always looking for simple, attractive drafts for my little twoshaft table loom. For these towels, I decided to adapt a draft that combines plain weave and basketweave (sometimes called hopsack). Using linen from my stash, I rotated four colors, holding three at a time, to create a random threading with wider, more subtle stripes made by the color groups as well as pinstripes formed by individual colors. When woven tromp-as-writ, or as drawn in, a dotted texture forms in the fabric. While I’d originally planned to weave these on my table loom, the linen warp and the width of the towels led me to put the warp on my floor loom—though I still only used two shafts. Treadling was rhythmic and easy, and I love the towels’ beautiful…

Summer and winter, the best known of the tied-weave structures, is one of the most versatile pattern weaves for four or more shafts. This towel project uses a standard two-block, four-shaft summer and winter threading, tie-up, and weaving sequence. The color-and-weave windowpane design repurposes the traditional tabby picks as part of the color pattern. The absorbency of the towels is enhanced by the structure’s three-thread floats combined with the flake and slub textures of the cotton and cottolin yarns and their varying twists. This windowpane design uses three colors in the warp and the weft, but warping and weaving are not difficult. I tend to prefer the panes in two related colors, but they can be a single color or any combination of colors that you find pleasing. The grid…

I spend a lot of time at my computer experimenting while designing my projects. I have to admit that once I finalize a design and get the loom warped, the actual weaving interests me less. At that point, most of the creative work has been done! My favorite projects, therefore, involve what I call “free treadling.” Instead of a set treadling pattern, I randomly arrange blocks as I weave, following the rules of the structure. You are welcome to weave this scarf exactly as I did, following my very long series of random blocks (see Weaving Tips), but once you are comfortable with the structure, I invite you to experiment with treadling. Repeat one block for the whole scarf, creating a cohesive overall pattern, or randomly treadle the blocks to…

Twisting (or plying) the fringe Divide the number of threads for each fringe into two groups. Twist each group clockwise until it kinks. Bring both groups together and allow them to twist around each other counterclockwise (or twist in that direction). Secure the ends with an overhand knot. (Use the same method to make a plied cord by attaching one end to a stationary object.) Double (Italian) hemstitching Weave several picks of plain weave (or the basic structure of the piece), ending with the shuttle on the right side if you are right-handed, the left side if you are left-handed. Measure a length of weft four times the warp width, cut, and thread this tail into a blunt tapestry needle. Take the needle under a selected group of warp threads…

The fable Ella Minnow Pea, written by Mark Dunn, takes place on an island named in memory of Nevin Nollop, whom locals revere as the author of the sentence “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” A memorial statue sits at the center of town with his pangram spelled out in tiles. One day, the letter Z falls off and shatters. After much discussion, the High Island Council decrees that Mr. Nollop is speaking from beyond the grave. His message: Z is to be forevermore excised from the island’s written and spoken language, on penalty of punishment. Some days later, the Q falls off. As more letters fall and the island’s language strictures grow, residents adapt their language. The story, which takes the form of a series of…

Sparkle and Shine Add a hint of glimmer to your project with metallic filaments from Vermont Weaving Supplies. Each 100-gram cone contains 2,000 yards and comes in a wide range of colors (Aqua is shown here). Choose a coordinating or contrasting color to use with your thicker weft yarn to make that special-occasion project shine. vermontweavingsupplies.com Vanquish Your Weft Foes Beat those wefts into line with this weaving sword by VytuVatu. Handcrafted and polished, this smooth blade is about 10 inches long and is available in three woods (walnut is shown here). The pointed tip is also useful for pick-up and lace techniques. vytuvatu.etsy.com A Helping Hand Make warping your loom a breeze with a 3D-printed raddle by LoftyFiber. Designed for Louet and Ashford table looms and Schacht and Harrisville…

Think back to 2019. Not the part where we were on the cusp of a global pandemic, but the part where Handwoven was celebrating a major anniversary. Forty years. Forty years! It was a tough time for the magazine—it had endured several years under ownership that didn’t really relate to weaving. Through those years, it had brilliant, dedicated editors who kept their focus on the craft and their readers, and it had readers whose passion for weaving kept deepening. And something good was on the horizon. Handwoven was about to find a new home, one built just for weavers and spinners and needleworkers: Long Thread Media. Linda Ligon was deeply into weaving when she first began publishing Handwoven in 1979, and John Bolton was its publisher and champion before leaving…

In August 2023, Susan E. Horton asked me if I was interested in creating a table runner to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Long Thread Media’s ownership of Handwoven. I answered, “Yes!” at least partially because I’ve been friends with Linda Ligon since not long after she founded Interweave Press in 1975. Linda published my weavings in the last issue of Interweave (Winter 1980–1981), the magazine that was the precursor to Handwoven. I later worked with editors Madelyn van der Hoogt and Susan E. Horton on numerous articles for Handwoven. After considering several ideas, I landed on three blocks of 5-end satin, which seemed appropriate for the fifth-anniversary project. In 2013, my diligent student and friend Janis Eckert used this structure for two tablecloths. We adapted an eighteenth-century damask design…

In a beehive, most bees are female. The queen lays eggs, while female worker bees carry out all other duties including gathering nectar and pollen and creating wax to shape into honeycomb. The male drones have one job: to mate with the queen (which happens just once in her lifetime). Imagine the bored drones down at the local bar. After multiple rounds of mead, they declare that they can create better honeycomb than their hardworking sisters! Imagine the chaos! The honeycomb weave structure is a variation of plain weave featuring thick undulating weft tied in place with and curving around areas of thinner weft. Long weft floats on the back make honeycomb a one-sided fabric. It is usually woven with a regular pattern of cells bordered by the thick weft;…

I wanted to design an accent pillow for our living room and imagined a handwoven fabric that would provide a spot of color and texture. I found myself drawn to the idea of a soft, fluffy, cut-pile design. I knew I didn’t want to do a lot of hand manipulation or knot tying and went searching for inspiration. I found several sources describing types of corduroy, but they were not quite what I was looking for. I decided to play with some ideas and put a sample warp on my loom to begin exploring. I began with a basic corduroy threading (1-2-1-2-3-4-3-4) found in Handwoven January/February 1990. I explored changes to the threading sequence and various tie-ups and tried a variety of treadling patterns. I experimented with the length of…

My all-time favorite weave structure is turned twill, even though it is very shaft-greedy, with each block requiring four shafts. I wove this four-block project first in turned twill using a jewel-tone palette and 16 shafts. I loved the finished towels so much that I tied on a second warp in a neutral palette. When the theme for this issue was announced, I decided this would be the perfect time to get out of my turned-twill rut and weave this profile draft in another structure. My other structure rut is summer and winter. I tried substituting many different structures with my weaving software, and darned if I didn’t dislike the look of all of them—except for summer and winter! I am not a huge fan of traditional summer and winter…

1. Share Your Colors Scarf MAGGIE BYCKALO To celebrate her husband’s Ukrainian heritage, Maggie Byckalo designed and wove him a scarf in shades of yellow and blue. Weave it as written or, as Maggie suggests, change out the colors for your alma mater or favorite sports team. 2. Skullery Towels MARGERY ERICKSON A sheep pattern printed in a past issue of Handwoven inspired designer Margery Erickson to develop her own motifs. She wove pumpkins, candles, rabbits, and jacko’-lanterns—so it was only a matter of time before she turned her attention to skulls! 3. City Chic Scarf SUSAN CAPEHART Reminiscent of skyscrapers and windows, this sophisticated scarf benefits from the drape and sheen of Tencel. If you’d like a touch more color, designer Susan Capehart suggests weaving one in periwinkle with…

I’ve spent my working life in publishing. Fresh out of college, I started as an editor for a computer magazine. Ironically, we didn’t do our work on computers—we used red pencils to mark up stories on paper. The office manager wouldn’t give us a fresh pencil (singular) until we handed in a used model that was too short to be sharpened any further. A dozen years later, with three other magazines (covering more computers, then engineering, then business) under my belt, I shifted to weekly and then daily newspapers. Along the way, I spent time editing words and photos, designing and producing pages, and training others. In addition to honing specific skills (some now obsolete—we no longer paste up galleys or use Rapidograph pens), I was unwittingly learning bigger lessons…

When I have a piece that needs to be finished with a knotted-edge twisted fringe, I like working at a table with the edge of the cloth even with the table’s edge. To prevent it from sliding, I weight the cloth down with an old cast-iron flatiron. It’s very heavy and, along with my fringe twister, is a regular part of my finishing tools. When you pick it up, you can feel the weight behind that old iron, and it makes me grateful for modern laundry tools. Heavens, most people rarely use an iron anymore, and when we do, it’s electric with a built-in steamer that heats up with the press of a button. Think how lucky weavers are with advanced washing machines and dryers at our fingertips. We just…

As a formerly serious knitter, I accumulated a sizable stash of knitting yarns, including a whole box of Noro Kureyon balls patiently waiting for their place in the sun. Looking for a structure that would use Kureyon to its best advantage, I perused The Best of Weaver’s: Thick ’n Thin. In diversified plain weave, a thin yarn is used to hold together a much thicker yarn in both warp and weft. Plump Kureyon works perfectly as the thick yarn, especially when combined with 16/2 cottolin or cotton as the thin yarn. To avoid the notoriously sturdy hand of diversified plain weave, I loosened the sett from the expected 8 ends per inch (epi) for Kureyon in plain weave to 5⅓ epi, and I added stripes of plain weave in the…

One of the most intriguing aspects of weaving is its long history, which has given us a huge variety of names for patterns and weave structures. They can be descriptive of the texture, such as waffle weave; indicate national origin, such as Swedish lace; or evoke images, as with Cat Track and Snail Trail. But all the different names, especially when some are translations from other languages, can also obscure the similarities of patterns and structures we’ve inherited from various times and places. In Warp and Weft: Lessons in Drafting for Handweaving by Mariana Eriksson, Gunnel Gustavsson, and Kerstin Lovallius, I found an interesting five-shaft structure they called liseré. Generally speaking, liseré is a type of fabric with ornate patterning, often using metallic or lustrous yarn to create a design…

My family teases me all the time about my love for totes and bags. Anytime I get in the car or head to the couch to watch a movie, I have at least one (or two or three) with me. I use them to hold knitting, handwovens that require finishing work, journals—all the items I must have, just in case. There is nothing worse than being stuck unexpectedly with no handwork! I love block designs and thought taqueté (weft-faced summer and winter woven without tabby) would be perfect for a heavy-duty tote. Plus, a handwoven tote would be so much more elegant than the old ones I’ve been using. I looked through some reference books to refresh my memory, designed a block pattern I liked, and threaded the loom. Although…

I find the notion of weaving with silk a bit intimidating—I have visions of losing control when warping and finding a tangled, slippery pile at my feet. And what if I make a mess of it on the loom? I could sample, but silk is so precious I don’t want to waste it or, God forbid, ruin it. I equate silk with pretty dresses and fancy shoes for going out on the town. Then I discovered silk noil, which is more like your favorite flannel shirt and cozy socks in front of a fire on a snowy day. Sometimes called raw silk, it looks unprocessed, rustic, and textured. But as I discovered working with Sero, the newest line from Gist Yarn, silk noil creates cloth with incredible drape and hand.…